Titan's curse foreshadowing

In ancient Greek mythology, there is the Oracle. It can answer any question and tell ones future, but the answers in riddles.  In “The Titan’s Curse” by Rick Riordan, Percy and his friends encounter the Oracle and it informs them of this riddle, “Five shall go west to the goddess in chains, One shall be lost in the land without rain, The bane of Olympus shows the trail, Campers and Hunters combined prevail, The Titan’s cruse must one stand, And one shall perish by a parent’s hand.”  This riddle foreshadows the coming events they will encounter on their mission.

“Shall go west to the goddess in chains, One shall be lost in the land without rain” These lines tell of the quest to save one of the Greek goddess, Artemis, out in the western part of the U.S.A. It also reveals one person will be lost in the land without rain. It becomes true when Bianca was killed fighting Talos in the desert.

“The bane of Olympus shows the trail, Campers and Hunters combined prevail” The Bane of Olympus, was a homeless guy who showed the adventurers a train that was heading west. Hunters are the followers of Artemis, while campers are the sons and daughters of the gods. Two Hunters, Zoe and Bianca, go with three campers, Grover, Thalia, and Percy fulfilling this portion of the riddle.

“The Titan’s cruse must one stand, and one shall perish by a parent’s hand.”  The Titan’s Cruse is the cruse that was placed upon the titan Atlas; he was Kronsos’s general in the war against the gods. Atlas’s role was to hold up the sky so it wouldn’t touch the earth. Percy stepped in to hold up the sky, while the Greek goddess, Artemis and Zoe fought Atlas. Zoe’s farther was Atlas, and when fighting him, she was mortally wounded and later died, completing the last line in this riddle.

The riddle gave the adventures the insight they needed to direct them on the correct path.  Despite having some of them die throughout the book; the riddle proved to be accurate. They persisted on their quest to save the goddess Artemis